It is well known in the art to treat pain or other symptoms by the application of energy in the form of alternating current electricity, magnetism and other forms of electromagnetic energy. One well accepted technique is known as electrical interferential therapy in which electrodes are connected in a crossing pattern adjacent the area to be treated. Alternating current is delivered through the electrodes into the body. One such device is commercially available from Rehabilicare Corporation of St. Paul, Minn. This type equipment is used to treat small areas of the body because the electrodes are spaced relatively close together in the region to be treated.
Disclosures of some interest are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,980; 5,067,495; 5,447,530; 5,580,350; 5,458,625 and 5,643,329.
Modern animals, humans among them, have marvelously complex nervous systems. For purposes of analysis, the human nervous system is normally thought of as including a central nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal column, a peripheral nervous system consisting of twelve pair of cranial nerves and thirty one pairs of spinal nerves and an autonomic nervous system which helps regulate various organs and systems throughout the body. The autonomic nervous system has two main segments, the sympathetic or thoracolumbar system and the parasympathetic or craniosacral system. The nerves of the sympathetic nervous system arise in the thoracic and lumbar portions of the spinal cord. They run from the spinal cord to ganglia that lie along both sides of the spinal column. In the ganglia, the neurons from the spinal cord form a synapse with the neurons that continue to the various organs. As will be more fully apparent hereinafter, this invention acts primarily on the sympathetic or thoracolumbar nervous system and secondarily on the somatic nervous system and the central nervous system.